The Letter In The Park
by hipplanet
Summary: Post 209. Booth and Brennan deal with the aftermath and what they mean to each other. BB, clearly. Funny, sad and romantic it's not half bad. I'm kinda shocked I wrote it!


Happy Bones DVD day! The case is SO pretty and the bonuses look awesome - I don't think I'll leave the house until I've watched everything!

May I present my post-"Aliens in a Spaceship" story. I wrote this not because the episode wasn't freakin' fantastic but simply because the story kept popping up in my head. I haven't read any other post-209 stories so any similarities between my story and any others are purely coincidental and a sign of shared brilliance.

On a giddy note, after watching 209 with me, my mother has become completely obsessed with "Bones". My mother, people! I love her dearly, but she's a woman who thinks "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" is great drama. She doesn't like anything! Converting newbies is so satisfying!

Disclaimer: I own the laptop that I wrote this on. And the clothes on my back. That's it.

* * *

After exiting the church, Seeley Booth and Temperance Brennan stood silently in the sunlight.

"Take a walk with me, will you Bones?"

Temperance paused and glanced towards her partner. "Where?"

"Wherever Bones," he answered, shrugging his shoulders. After a brief pause he gestured towards his left with his chin. "Through that park?"

"Okay."

They crossed the street together, Seeley's hand resting lightly on her lower back as he guided her through traffic and between parked cars.

After ten minutes of walking in silence, without any indication from Seeley as to the purpose of this walk, Temperance began to fill the stillness by pointing out the various groups of children playing in the park. As she did, she analyzed the group dynamics according to ancient Aztec hierarchies and Roman military structure. Seeley listened, not giving any indication that he was paying the slightest bit of attention. At some point during an explanation of the anthropological significance of 'Hide and Seek', Seeley led Temperance to an empty bench and gestured to her to take a seat. He said nothing further, just sat next to her and tilted his head towards the sun.

"Am I – is something wrong? Does seeing these children remind you that you don't spend enough time with Parker?"

"It does now, thank you" he spat. Taking a deep breath, he stuck his hand inside his coat pocket. "Bones, when the FBI took your clothing for analyses –"

"Did they identify the type of aluminum? Did they find -?"

"Bones! Please let me finish a sentence for once!"

"Sorry, Booth." At his glare she turned to face him and folded her hands in her lap. "I'm listening."

Seeley watched the children playing in the distance for a few minutes, just to irritate her, before he spoke again.

"The FBI techs found this, and they gave it to me and now I'm giving it back to you." He pulled a folded up piece of paper out of his pocket and quickly handed it to Temperance. She gasped softly and regarded it with wide eyes.

"I promise I didn't read it, even though, you know," he gestured to the paper where the word 'Booth' was clearly legible in her carefully script.

"I forgot about this," she said, shaking her head. "Hodgins prompted me to write a letter just before we set off the air-bag explosive."

"And that's what you did instead of praying?" Shaking his head, he continued; "I thought you should have it back. It doesn't need to be part of the official evidence or anything. You have it, so we can try to forget about this whole thing and move on."

"Wait, you – you don't want to read it?" Confused, Temperance looked up at his face.

"No Bones, obviously," he said in his patronizing 'explaining-simple-concepts-to-Bones' voice. "What's in that letter was meant for me to read if you were dead. And you're not. End of story."

She stared at him with a passive expression on her face. "Come on Bones," he continued with a determined look on his face. "Like I need to read the lengthy tirade you've written, berating me for not finding you in time."

"Is that really what you think it says?" she asked in a hurtful tone.

"No," he answered quickly, his tone and expression softening. "Of all the things I think that letter contains, said lengthy tirade is not one of them."

"So why don't you want to read it? You seemed very eager to read my second novel if I remember correctly."

"Bones, this is completely different."

"How?"

Seeley let out a long breath and scrubbed his face with his hands. "Maybe you weren't thinking clearly when you wrote this letter."

Temperance raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Okay, okay! You always think clearly! You are always rational!" He held his hands up in a gesture of defeat. "How about that the situation is different? I think you wrote that letter with the intention that it be read with you dead. And now you're not and I don't think you can handle the consequences of that letter being read with you alive. I know I can't."

Temperance leaned forward, surprised. "You're jumping to a conclusion Booth! How can you be so sure without testing your theory?"

"This is real life Bones! We're not in your lab and this isn't an experiment."

"The Scientific Method works because it applies to practical and theoretical situations."

"We're arguing and I don't even know which side you're on." He made eye contact with Temperance and fixed his best 'interrogation' expression on his face. "Do you want me to read the letter?"

She sat back on the bench and gazed at the paper in her hands. After a few minutes of quiet contemplation she reached over and placed the letter into Seeley's hands. "Read it."

He looked at her; uncertainty, discomfort and the slightest bit of fear evident across his face.

"I wrote this letter because I wanted you to know what it says. Granted, some of its contents are no longer applicable as the outcome of the situation is different but that doesn't change my original intentions. I want you to read it."

"Bones, I'm not sure I can."

"Please Booth. I can be very articulate on paper. Here, I'll read it to you. If you want me to stop, just ask and I will." She took the letter out of his hands and briskly unfolded it. A wry smile spread a across her face and she sat up and caught his eye. "Did you hear I refused the psychiatric counseling sessions the FBI wanted me to have? So this might be the therapy everyone seems to think I need."

Seeley allowed a small chuckle to escape before he swallowed hard and gestured for her to begin.

"Booth, I want to start by apologizing if the contents of this letter seem disorganized or disjointed. I have so much I want to say and there are obvious time, space and oxygen constraints.

"I hope that you will continue to work with the forensic staff at the Jeffersonian. The work that you do, the closure and justice you bring to people are so important. You do it better than anyone else at the FBI even could. If however you choose not to, I would completely understand.

"Should you choose to severe your professional relationship with the staff at the Jeffersonian, please maintain contact with Angela and Zach. Make sure Zach finishes his dissertation and receives his doctorate. I'm afraid I haven't been the best mentor for him lately; allowing him to work for me while his dissertation remains unfinished for so long. Besides, I know how important your relationship is to him. I need you to tell Angela how much I loved her and how much our friendship meant to me. I'm worried about how she will cope with losing me, not to mention Hodgins, and I hope that you will be there to help her.

"I don't have a formal last will and testament but I know I can trust you to take care of everything. Anything relating to my family should go to Russ, books and tools to Zach and I'd like Angela to have all my jewelry. Sell or divide everything else as you see fit. My books have made me a bit of money, as you know, and you'll find all my financial information in my study. Please see to it that a third of my estate goes to Russ, a third to Northwestern to establish a scholarship fund and the remaining third to you and Parker. Please don't refuse Booth. I want you to have it. Although my novels are purely fiction, I can't deny that working with you helped inspire the story lines. Buy Parker an extravagant present and use the rest to make your lives better. You both deserve it."

"Bones," he interrupted, voice breaking slightly. "You're crazy!" When she continued to stare down at her letter he gently placed his hand on her forearm and squeezed it lightly. "Thank you."

Temperance looked up then, her eyes wet with tears. Placing her hand on his, she took a deep breath and continued reading.

"Booth, please don't be angry at yourself for not finding me before I died. I know you are working as hard as you can to find me; exhausting every lead and bending every rule. Even when the time runs out, I know you will continue to search until you find me – I wouldn't be writing you this letter if I didn't believe that.

"If you need to be angry or blame someone, blame me. I didn't do enough of my stuff to help you catch the Gravedigger or find me and Hodgins. I should have stayed in the lab and continued examining Matthew and Ryan Kent. I should have fought off my attacker. I should be able to do more in this car to help you with the investigation. But I didn't and I can't. See Booth? If you need to be angry, be angry at me. I can't bear the thought of my death being added to the list of deaths you hold yourself accountable for."

Seeley shifted closer to her on the bench and blinked away tears that threatened to spill over. "Bones…" he said with a shaky voice.

"Shh…just let me finish," she said, running her thumb across the back of his hand. Temperance continued to read, her voice breaking more and more with each word. "I want to end by saying thank you. Thank you for finding me and dragging me out of the lab. Thank you even more for coming back, even though I wasn't very nice to you. Thank you for including me in your investigations, for showing me the real world and for occasionally letting me hold a gun. Thank you for trusting me with your work, your friendship and your life.

"Good-bye Special Agent Seeley Booth. Make sure you leave some time to take care of yourself once you've taken care of everyone else. You deserve nothing but happiness and balance in your life. Love, Temperance (Bones, since you insist)."

Quickly, Seeley drew her into a tight embrace. "That was beautiful Bones." In response, Temperance buried her face in his neck and allowed the sobs she had been holding back to escape.

"Booth, I was so scared."

"I know Bones, I know. So was I," he said, stroking her hair to comfort her. "It felt like a part of me was missing."

Temperance froze and her mind kicked into high gear. She knew statements like that did not come easily to her partner. He had distanced himself from her lately. The exact cause was unclear; Rebecca, Camille's presence in the lab or perhaps he was uncomfortable with the intensity of their partnership. But the case in Las Vegas had changed that. Knowing that he would need extra strength and support, he asked her to stay, using the investigation as cover. He had reached out to her then – just like he was reaching out to her now. She realized she had to respond quickly and appropriately before he pulled away again.

"Booth," she said, leaning back so she could look at his face. His eyes were wet and he looked as vulnerable as she felt. "I told you I don't believe in God. But in that car, when I thought that the air was going to run out, I believed in someone. I believed in you."

A noise somewhere between a sob and a laugh escaped Seeley's lips. "Bones don't make fun of me."

"I'm not! We've spent so much time together over the past year, in so many dangerous situations. I've come away with ample proof of your abilities. You are what I believe in."

Seeley closed his eyes and gently shook his head from side to side. "Too much, this is all too much," he muttered under his breath. Opening his eyes, he rested his hands on Temperance's upper arms and tried to pry her arms from around his neck.

"Let's get something to eat Bones. I hear Indian food is the new Thai." His voice was clear and steady but he would not look Temperance in the eye.

"Booth!" She tightened her grip on his neck and called his name again but he continued to avoid eye contact and tug on her arms. "Seeley, please stop." He froze and looked up.

Temperance never wanted to feel the regret Rebecca expressed to her. Now that she was finally ready for him, she was determined not to let him go without a fight. "Is this our moment?"

A ghost of a smile made an appearance. "I don't know what that means," he said, gently mocking her.

"Booth," she said impatiently. "I know that I'm stubborn and not good with emotions and sometimes my intelligence annoys you. I also know that you're equally stubborn and completely over-protective and impulsive."

"Do you have a point Bones?"

"My point is that when I was buried alive, you were the only person I wanted to write a letter to. This can only be our moment if both of us want it to be." After a long pause, she ran her hand down the back of his head and cupped his neck. "Do you want it to be?"

Seeley wanted to look away but he found himself unable to because her face displayed fear and longing with an undercurrent of strength. It was time to stop backing away from the partnership, no, relationship he had worked so hard to create. Because even ex-snipers with hero complexes and emotionally-detached squints deserve happiness in life. Dropping his hands to her waist, he drew in a deep breath and silently prayed that some of her strength would be transferred to him.

"This," he said, leaning closer until his face was dangerously close to hers. "Is just the first of many moments we are going to have together."

Matching grins spread across both their faces as they absorbed the full weight of Seeley's words until they were both laughing out loud. Seeley rested his head on Temperance's shoulder, drawing her closer to him.

"Thank you for believing in me Temperance."

"You'd do the same for me."

He relaxed his hold on her and stood up from the bench. "Come on Bones, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"The bank," he grinned. "I want to collect my third of your estate. There's a plasma TV I've had my eye on."

"Booth!" Standing quickly, she swatted him gently on the shoulder. "You can't seriously think of collecting the money."

"Why not?"

"For a number of reasons, the first of which is –" Her argument was cut off when Seeley quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. After recovering from her initial surprise, Temperance responded to the kiss with equal enthusiasm.

"Best way to end an argument. Ever." Seeley mumbled punctuating each word with a kiss.

"I couldn't agree more."

End.


End file.
